THE Prince of Wales has entered stage right into a row over whether William Shakespeare was the true author of the masterpieces that bear his name.

THE Prince of Wales has entered stage right into a row over whether William Shakespeare was the true author of the masterpieces that bear his name.

New Hollywood blockbuster Anonymous, directed by Roland Emmerich, argues that the Bard’s greatest plays were actually written in secret by a nobleman, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, who is played in the film by Rhys Ifans.

The film, due for release on October 28, also controversially argues Oxford was the illegitimate son of Elizabeth I, born secretly when she was 15, and later became her lover.

The theory, which has commanded virtually no support from scholars since it was suggested more than 90 years ago, may now become the focus of lessons for American schoolchildren, following its exposure in Anonymous.

To accompany the movie, which historian Simon Schama called an “idiotic misunderstanding of history”, Sony Pictures has produced a package of lesson plans for American high schools.

They suggest that it is “impossible to believe that a mere grammar school graduate could have written the plays and poems attributed to Shakespeare.

“Wouldn’t it make more sense to suppose that William Shakespeare was only the stand-in for a better-educated author?”

But Prince Charles has today given his support to a campaign to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’s online campaign, which is aiming to “tackle head-on the conspiracy theories that William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon was not the true author of the plays which bear his name”.

Joining actors Stephen Fry and Simon Callow in his opposition, the Royal Shakespeare Company president said: “The great thing is that his monarchs, who range from saintly to villainous, from inadequate to heroic are understandable, fallible human beings.”

Dr Jayne Archer, lecturer in medieval and renaissance literature at Aberystwyth University, said the film’s message – and its lesson to American schoolchildren – is not an inspiring one.

She said: “The Earl of Oxford was an extraordinarily privileged aristocrat. The works to which he gave his name showed no real literary promise and certainly nothing of the spirit or the style of Shakespeare.”

Authorship was very different in Renaissance England without the existence of copyright law, she added, when writers regularly collaborated and did not put their name to works.

“It was very well established that Thomas Middleton contributed some lines and some scenes to Shakespeare’s plays,” she said. “One of the most famous scenes in Macbeth, the witches and caldrons scene, that’s actually Thomas Middleton inspired from his play The Witch.”

History also appeared to have been “sexed up” in the film, particularly regarding Elizabeth I’s incestuous affair with her illegitimate son, she said.

“I do think it’s rather sad a woman can’t be extraordinary powerful and intelligent without having to suggest, well she must have been a nymphomaniac as well.”

Professor Helen Wilcox, of the School of English at Bangor University, said: “I don’t give much credence to any of the various contenders for alternative authorship.

“There are so many – there is Marlowe, there is Francis Bacon, the Earl of Derby and the Earl of Oxford.

“I can see why people are fascinated as it’s very exciting, the idea we haven’t got it right.

“I don’t think we will ever really know, I don’t think there is comparatively enough evidence that it was anyone other than William Shakespeare.”

Professor Wilcox said she would nevertheless watch the film because of its “perennially fascinating” subject matter.

“It does raise questions about the imagination and where an author’s creativity comes from.”

However, teaching the film’s storyline as an educational prop is “very dangerous”, she said.

“I think you should enjoy it as a drama or fiction.

“Of course, it should take people back to reading the plays or watching the plays, the most important thing of all.”

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